Steven Gerrard was in front of the media on Friday afternoon for his pre-match press conference.
The Aston Villa head coach was quizzed on Sunday’s Premier League tie against Chelsea at Villa Park.
Here’s what he had to say…
On team news...
“Leon Bailey trained yesterday, so he’ll be available for the squad. We need to have more conversations with the medical department to see if he’s available from the beginning or his game time. He has been back since yesterday.
“Cameron Archer’s still got a niggle in the background and at some point we’ll have to address that in the future. He’s trained again this week, so he’s available.
“Matty Cash didn’t train yesterday but that was just us managing him. He’ll be available.
“Boubacar Kamara’s progressing well. Diego Carlos is progressing well. Lucas Digne, we’re hoping to have him back before the end of the month without putting a game on that.
“We’re hoping if we progress Lucas in a safe way, we could have him available at the end of the month.”
On Villa’s current form…
“We know – and I’ll say it as loud as you want me to say it – that we’re not firing on all cylinders.
“But there’s also a lot of things right in terms of how we look: our structure defensively, the effort and commitment of the boys, we’re getting a lot of players back into better form.
“We know that the last bit, the execution part, will come. Players will step forward and take these moments. A little bit of confidence or belief in a big moment or a bit of luck can go in our favour and we can get there and start firing on all cylinders.
“All is not wrong in my eyes. I’m seeing a lot of good stuff. The players are seeing that as well and we’re reminding them of it.
“When you say, ‘four games unbeaten’, it sounds better than it is because we know the last two should have been six points from six, and we’d have been talking about the best place Villa have been in since I’ve been in the door.
“The margins are small and fine but we’re well aware of where we should be. That’s on me and that’s on us.”
On learning on the job…
“I didn’t take this position or my previous coaching positions at Rangers or Liverpool expecting everything to be fantastic every single day. I don’t think it works like that in any job or walk of life where every day is a great day.
“Some days you’ve got to roll your sleeves up more, you’ve got to dig in, you’ve got to front stuff up, you’ve got to accept the bad days, the criticism and frustration from outside.
“I won’t change and I’ll continue to believe in what I believe in. I’ll continue to do the right things. I’ll continue to put myself forward to lead this group to a better position.
“My confidence in this group hasn’t changed because I can feel how close we are to being in a better place. I know the league table doesn’t suggest that but we’re one big moment away from sitting in a much healthier position."
On Chelsea…
“I wouldn’t argue or debate whether they have the favourites tag. They’re a team full of world-class talent. They’ve got academy kids who’ve developed and become top players.
“They’ve recruited extremely well. They’ve changed manager of late and seem to be in a honeymoon period.
“Everything points to them being favourites in the game, but this is at Villa Park. We’re a bit frustrated that we haven’t taken wins from our previous two and we want to use that frustration in the right way.
“We want to take the game to Chelsea and be as aggressive as we can.”